RE: Broken cross-references in PDFs
As Fred and Richard have already pointed out, Frame won't create working
cross-references in text insets when you create a PDF. That's a
FrameMaker bug that may or may not ever get fixed.
In my TechPubs department, we came up with a couple of solutions:
1. Break down your content into small enough chunks that each chunk can
be linked into a book without having to be a text inset. I broke my
content apart into separate files by level 1 heading (very rarely by
level 2) rather than by chapter because some of my manuals use all of
those topics and some don't. If a particular manual doesn't use a topic,
I simply leave it out of the book file. By doing this, I eliminated the
need for text insets altogether. This method also can cut down on the
amount of conditional text that you may need to use, which is an added
bonus. Your book file will get longer because you'll have more files in
it, but you'll have more control over everything overall. ...
Workarounds for the problem of cross-references in text insets not being PDF links are indeed time-consuming (but depending on the specific needs, automation may be possible through add-ons).
With respect to having shared content added as a book component in multiple books, the following should be noted:
* Each file in a book must start on a new page (but can be set to "next available" side, if you have double-sided pagination).
* When multiple books are using the same file, different headers/footers or variables may have to be addressed by importing formats into the shared files as part of finalizing each book. (These steps are not needed when using text insets, as only body-page content is used, and variables/formats can be set to match the container document)
* Cross-references from a shared file -- pointing to other chapters which are included in some books but not in others -- will result in bad links in the final PDF deliverable, although FrameMaker does not alert you as to "unresolved cross-references" (because the target files do exist); this can be resolved with conditional text.
Shlomo Perets
MicroType, http://www.microtype.com
Training, consulting & add-ons: FrameMaker, Structured FM and Acrobat
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